The material on this site — essentially a mix of ‘matter of record’ documentation and related reflection covering some 50+ years of making art — is currently being reshaped in line with Léger’s 1913 Montjoie! statement:
“I am convinced that we are approaching a conception of art as comprehensive as those greatest epochs of the past: the same tendency to large scale, the same collective effort. This last remark warrants lengthy consideration. It is important. [. . .] One may cast doubt on an isolated creative work, but the vital proof is established when it is translated collectively into a very distinct means of personal expression” *
At time of writing, the intention is to reformat everything under four overlapping ‘thinking-through-making’ headings:
‘Well-Making’ | process and making as ethical reflection…
‘Beneficial Practice’ | art as social labour situated in place…
‘Glittering Materiality’ | “luminosity rather than clarity”…
‘Mass-Artist’ | collaboration as distributed authorship…
There is much to do. And until it’s done, it is what Ad said:
“There seems to be nothing much to say, and sometimes nothing much to see.”
– Ad Reinhardt, 1954
* trans: ‘Functions of Painting by Fernand Léger’, The Documents of 20th-Century Art, Thames and Hudson, 1973. The original text was delivered as lecture at the Académie Vassilieff in Paris on 5 May 1913, and subsequently split and published across the May 29 and June 14–29 editions of ‘Montjoie!’ in 1913.
[11.02.2026]
David Patten 